Leitmotif

The song I chose - Autumn leaves - by Daniel Kajmakoski (the Eurovision song, entry of Macedonia year 2015.)

word count - 864 words

((I changed some lyrics, because it fits cats better, in case you might want to listen the the real song, I guess. Hahaaaaa))

Leaf-fall was lovely, but it was a time of change, something he'd come to accept wistfully some time ago. Either from green and yellow leaves to red and gold, or a change of other's heart. Marshwhisker would like to think about it as so.

Formerly he was nothing but a scrap of a kit, struggling to survive, for his loner mother passed away and left him to fend for himself. But he met Snowlight, then Snowpaw, in the dark of the night, it was a lucky strike, and she invited him to join her clan. Despite his mother dying a while ago, he was quick to recover from depression because of joining her clan, accepting the invitation.

And that's when he fell in love with her. Life was easy back then, being apprentices; they hunted, they trained, and they have fun. With each passing day, he fell for her harder and harder. He may had been tormented and looked down upon for not being a clan born, and he may had thought about giving up more than a dozen times, but because she was by his side, because she stood by his side, he endured it.

They spent time together often, enough to mark the old willow tree as their forever favourite place. Enough to create unlimited inside jokes. Enough to learn how to read each other's minds. Time passed, and he fell in love with her even more, enough to make his heart skip a beat every time he see her smile, her laugh, or when their fur brushed gently against each other.

That green leaf was wonderful, and he'd engraved it in his mind for as long as he's alive and breathing. But he could never seems to muster up the courage to confess his love for her, no matter how much he tried. And he'll sigh, and hope he'd has the courage soon.

Then, everything changed. When he became the Marshwhisker he is, and when the cute Snowpaw he used to love turned into the ever graceful and elegant Snowlight. And everything changed, that green leaf was the last time he'd see the bouncy and caring Snowpaw, for now she's no more the Snowpaw he used to know, she's the wise and loving and wonderful Snowlight, in leaf-fall.

He never saw it coming, how could he, when they were having the time of their life in their apprenticeship? It's like elder tales come true, and he was sure it'd end with a happy ending. Slowly, they drifted apart, she changed. Or rather, he was being stubborn, clinging to what fragments of the past he had left.

You said we'd never change, but maybe we do.

There are attempts that he - no, both of them, try to repair their relationship. But something was amiss, the magic around them was gone. "Want to visit our old willow? Or visit those frogs you used to slip on?" She would asked, but her eyes lost their old secret glimmer. She's grown proud and ready to leave behind their stories, for the sake of something he don't know.

Oh love, it was all we've ever used to know.

But I could see your colours changed to red and gold.

The realization was breathtakingly startling and sad. It was all he's ever ever known, and now everything were falling apart, like those leaf-fall leaves. Now he could see her colours changed to lovely red and gold. But he's the same old Marshpaw, he don't want to leave a part of them behind. Yet he know, she's now a beautiful shade of red and gold, nothing like the old green and yellow he - they - used to loved. So he braced himself.

Every moment will hurt, from the last to the first, and I'm trying to find a way to breathe.

Slowly, he acknowledged that it's changing, everything he's ever known and familiar is changing, she's falling away, drifting away. And he's falling, too.

My heart's beating like a million storm, 'cause you're the ground under my feet.

She's like the ground underneath him, supporting him since as long as they met, but now with everything changing, he's trying to hold on, but he's falling free. Like those leaf-fall leaves. And he had to get over her, and move on, and kept his feelings a secret. Because everything changed - she changed - and this time, he's alone.

In the end, She got herself a loving and caring mate, and he's left with his muse, so he guess this is the end of this romantic elders tale, a good old one-sided love, unknown to Snowlight, known to no one but him. End the tale forever and after, and he's falling free.

It's all he'd ever used to know and cling to. And letting go of a part of him is painful. Every moment did hurt, from the last to the first. And in the end, she's all beautiful red and gold, and she moved forward, while he's trying to hold on to the nostalgic past and Snowpaw.

And I'm trying to hold on, but love, I'm falling free...like those leaf-fall leaves.